Capacity Building: Approaches & Experiences in Global Health

March 17, 2011

1. Introduction: from public to global health

2. What does global health tell us about global governance?

3. Building whose capacity to do what?

4. Approaches to building capacity: Delivery Research Governance

5. Why does building capacity matter?

6. Conclusions

Overview

…to international health

Source: Szlezák, Nicole A., Barry R. Bloom, Dean T. Jamison, Gerald T. Keusch, Catherine Michaud, Suerie Moon, William C. Clark. 2010. The global health system: Actors, norms and expectations in transition. Public Library of Science Medicine. 7(1):e1000183, http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000183

…to global health:e.g. Roll Back malaria Partnership

Source: Szlezák et al (2010)

Examples:• Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and International Facility

for Financing Immunization

• Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and Country Coordinating Mechanisms

• UNITAID and national airline tax

• Global Polio Eradication Initiative

• Public-private product development partnerships

• AIDS vaccine & microbicides &diagnostic tests

• TB vaccine & drugs &diagnostic tests

• Malaria vaccine & drugs

• Neglected tropical diseases: kala azar, sleeping sickness , Chagas disease, dengue, hookworm, diarrhea, etc

Global institutional innovations for health:

International health: “a focus on the control of epidemics across the boundaries between nations”

vs.

Global health: “implies consideration of the health needs of the people of the whole planet above the concerns of particular

nations”

Source: Brown TM, Cueto M, Fee E. (2006) “The World Health Organization and the Transition from International to Global Public Health.” American Journal of Public Health 96 (1): 62-72.

Source: Ravishankar et al (2010)

1990: $5.6 B2007: $22.8 B

Development Assistance for Health 1990-2007

Source: WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF. (2009) Towards Universal Access: Scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector. Progress Report 2009. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Problems:

Closely linked to economic, environmental, human rights policy domains

Vivid example of increased interdependence & vulnerability

Transborder problems requiring global problem-solving

2. What does global health tell us about global governance?

Theory

Rise of non-state actors Civil society: eg MSF, Oxfam, PLWHA networks Business: eg pharmaceutical, tobacco, food Individuals/foundations: eg Gates, Bloomberg, Rockefeller

Institutional innovation: e.g. Public-private (multi-stakeholder) partnerships Innovative financing mechanisms

Governance Questions: Governance in the absence of hierarchy Legitimacy & authority Participation & representation Effectiveness & accountability

2. WHAT DOES GLOBAL HEALTH TELL US ABOUT GLOBAL GOVERNANCE?

Right to health:

States: primary responsible

Multilaterals, Civil society, Business, Foundations: support

Functions: National to International to Global

National era (1880s-1950s): Cooperate to prevent cross-border disease spread Surveillance

International era (1960s-80s): above + country support & guidelines (treatment manual, drug lists) time-limited interventions (eradication campaigns)

3. Building whose Capacity to do What?

Global era (1990s-present): above + Delivery: Long-term support (funding, technical assistance, goods,

labor) Research: Targeted global public goods production (new drug devt,

health systems functioning) Governance: policymaking, regulation, management

Global & national functions deeply intertwined

Nevertheless, strengthening capacity in developing countries required Delivery Research Governance

3. Building whose Capacity to do What?

Age-old Debate (1950s):

Vertical: disease-specific (e.g. AIDS tmt)

Horizontal: health systems (e.g. nurse training)

Diagonal: use disease-specific programs to drive improvements into health systems

Evidence/Outcomes?:

Global actor’s policies vary widely

Diagonalization: not automatic, but possible when planned

Parallel country-level systems weaken state capacity

Global outsourcing of national functions can weaken national capacity

4. Approaches to building capacity: Delivery

Evidence & Outcomes (cont’d)

Tension between rapid results & capacity building? e.g. NGO-based delivery

Health workers: New programs = increased burden some short-term support, but long-term insufficient can also weaken state capacity international labor migration weakens nat’l capacity

Information/data Lack of intl coordination = increased nat’l burden Improved, innovative data collection for some target areas

4. Approaches to building capacity: Delivery

4. Approaches to building capacity:Global/national interfaces v1

Source: World Health Organization Maximizing Positive Synergies Collaborative Group. (2009) “An assessment of interactions between global health initiatives and country health systems.” The Lancet 373: 2137-69.

4. Approaches to building capacity:Global/national interfaces v2

GHI

From:

1975: UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank, WHO: Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)

1977: Rockefeller Fdtn: Great Neglected Diseases of Mankind

To:

1998: Multilateral Initiative on Malaria

2003: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative

Overall:

Health knowledge & technologies as potential global public goods

Long-term investments required for long-term payoffs

Huge North-South disparities remain

4. Approaches to building capacity:

Health Research

Capacity builders: Multilaterals, governments, civil society, firms, foundations

Government: Priority-setting (mixed) Financing & Management Monitoring & Evaluation (data collection) Policy-making (e.g. user fees) Regulating (e.g. drug quality) Representation in intergovernmental arenas (e.g. IP rules)

Civil society: Monitoring (watchdog) for accountability Advocating local/national/international Decision-making (e.g. Global Fund CCM)

4. Approaches to building capacity: Governance

“The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being”

“The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security”

“The achievement of any State in the promotion and protection of health is of value to all.”

“Unequal development in different countries in the promotion of health and control of disease, especially communicable disease, is a common danger.”

Sustainability, effectiveness & efficiency of international support

Concept of “sustainability” evolving

5. Why does building capacity matter?

Source: Constitution of the World Health Organization.

Spread of H1N1 in 8 months

Increasingly globalized conception of health globalized ideas of who is responsible for health

What functions should be done at global vs national level is not necessarily clear, and is changing w globalization.

De facto, Global & national functions deeply intertwined

Consensus on need to build capacity in developing countries.

…but no consensus on whether that means ‘state’ capacity or ‘national’ capacity

…and mixed record on success in building capacity

Within global health, shift towards focus on health systems and capacity building implies deeper involvement of global actors in domains previously considered ‘domestic’

6. Conclusions: Capacity building in global health

If a purpose of global governance is to build capacity in countries where it is lacking, what does the global health experience tell us? Yes, its possible! But neither fast nor inevitable. Multiple new actors and increasing interdependence add further

confusion to “who should build the capacity of whom to do what?” (compared to WHO-government)

Multiple new actors also bring opportunity for improved capacity building (innovation, new channels, multi-scale/levels)

Globalization also brings opportunities for improved capacity building through horizontal linkages

Interdependence implies long-term, increasingly integrated approaches to global/national capacity building

6. Conclusions:Capacity building in global governance